Wednesday, September 23, 2009

As of yesterday, Sep. 22nd Harry Connick, Jr new Album "Your Songs" went on sell.For those of you that don't know who Harry Connick, Jr. is, he is a Singer, Actor (P.S. I Love You, Bug and many more), Composer, Pianist, Philanthropist, husband and father. Harry performs classic songs by some of the greatest musicians of all time, (i.e. Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Elvis) with a full Jazz big band and string orchestra.Though I'm actually not a fan of big bands, I definitely enjoy listening to Harry Connick, Jr. One of his biggest strengths is in his composing. At times it really seems like he can take one of your all time favorite oldies and magically transform it into a completely new song. Although I'm sure some wouldn't agree, I actually think "Your Songs" is even better than "Only You", one of his older Cd's.The track listing for Your Songs is :

Album Tracklisting (Originally performed by)

All The Way (Frank Sinatra)Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)And I Love Her (The Beatles)(They Long To Be) Close To You (The Carpenters)Besame MuchoThe Way You Look Tonight First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)Your Song (Elton John)Some Enchanted EveningAnd I Love You So (Don McLean)Who Can I Turn To? (Tony Bennett)Smile (Charlie Chaplin)Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole)

If I had no choice and had to pick a single favorite out of all these, it would probably be Your Song, although it really is hard just to pick a single favorite lol.If you're a fan of big bands, jazz or of some of these oldies but goodies, than you should definitely check out Harry's new CD.

You'll also be able to catch Harry on TV over these next few days, here are some of his appearances:

Your SongsDeluxe Limited Edition CD/DVDpackage is only available HERE and features 14 standard album tracks PLUS 2 exclusive bonus tracks, "Who's Sorry Now" and "Answer Me My Love." It also includes rare behind-the-scenes footage of Harry on the road with his band and the music video for "(They Long To Be) Close To You."

And before I forget, Harry also has a facebook page where you can check him out, here.

Monday, September 21, 2009

I've owned this game for quite a while now, and truly enjoy playing it! Luckily I happen to have an extra brand new copy of it!Guess what that means for you?That's right, here you have a chance of receiving a brand spanking new, copy of Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn for your Wii! I promise you won't regret owning this title!

If you want to read more about the game, or if you can't wait to win a copy here is your chance to read more about the Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn.

The giveaway rules to this are going to be very simple.Wait for the google form to load, enter all your info and make sure you FOLLOW this blog. That's it! You don't have to leave a comment or anything of the sorts. Simply follow this blog and fill out this form. 1 x entry per person.

Loading...This giveaway will end on Saturday October the 10th, @ 11:59pm CT.I will contact the winner via email (make sure to add giveaways@crazywithpets.com to your safe list, so my email wont get lost in spam.)and post the winning name on this blog.The winner will have 48 hours to respond, or the prize will be forfeited and another winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to the Continental US and Canada. 18+ only.Your info will only be used for this giveaway, it will not be SOLD or anything of the likes. As soon as this giveaway is over, all of your info will be DELETED.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

A few days ago, I decided to search for a Mortar and Pestle set, to help me do something with the abundance of Chiltepin peppers that I have this year.While looking on Amazon I found the BIA Cordon Bleu 8-Ounce Mortar and Pestle Set, WhiteI figured at $8.49 for the set, I really couldn't loose out!

This Mortar and Pestle set is made from white porcelain and holds 8 ounces, it measures 4-1/2 inches in diameter. Has a textured surface on the bowl interior as well as on the pestle base to help with the grinding. It is also vitrified and nonporous, which mean that the set won't stain, absorb odors, or crack. My favorite fact is that it's safe in the oven, microwave, dishwasher and the freezer!Here are some of the pictures I took today while using it. This is what the BIA Mortar and Pestle looked like with my dried Chiltepins.

The peppers after, well a few minutes of grinding lol The mortar and pestle truly worked like a charm, as long as you don't mind using a little bit of elbow and wrist grease lol.

Here is the not so clean Mortar and pestle after it's first use. Definitely note all the color from the Tepins.

And finally here you can see what it looked like after a quick wash in the sink. I really am amazed by, how well it cleaned up.

Last but not least, my finished "SPICY" Chiltepin powder and seeds.

Yes, I am definitely still in the process of clearing out my sinuses! All I can say, the next time I do this, I will definitely have to use a face mask lol ;)Would I recommend this product to anyone? Oh yes! For the price, you really can't go wrong here. If you're looking for a Mortar and Pestle set, that does it's job, is sturdy, wont get discolored and wont break your bank, than you should definitely give the BIA Cordon Bleu 8-Ounce Mortar and Pestle Set, White a try!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

MyBlogspark recently gave me the opportunity to taste some truly yummy Yoplait Yogurt. Yoplait Yogurt is the only leading brand of yogurt that contains both, calcium and vitamin D in every serving (that's 10-20% of your daily value of vitamin D).

Aside from that, Yoplait offers a large variety of great tasting flavors, this way even some of your pickiest eaters find the right tasting yogurt, and therefor hopefully meet their daily vitamin D and Calcium needs.

Did you know that 76% of population falls short of getting enough vitamin D; and 72% are not getting enough calcium in their diets?

Getting the right amount of calcium and vitamin D, paired with exercise is extremely important to help build and maintain strong, healthy bones, especialy in adolescence.

Did you know that consuming calcium and vitamin D during childhood can help reduce the risk of fractures in adulthood?

Yoplait has partnered with Nancy O'Dell the entertainment news reporter and celebrity mom, who understands the importance of incorporating calcium and Vitamin D into her diet, while also maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Here is what Nancy O'Dell has to say

MyBlogspark sent me a coupon to try out the Yoplait Yogurt. I chose the Yoplait Light Red Raspberry, and omg it was absolutely scrumptious! I am definitely going back for more lol! ;)

As a fun bonus the very generous people at MyBlogSpark have offered to let me giveaway not one but two complimentary gift bags, to give to two of my readers!

Each winner will receive:

One Free Coupon for one Yoplait Yogurt

An autographed copy of Nancy's new book, "Full of Life" (Mom-to-Mom Tips I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Pregnant)

And one Yoga mat with a carrybag

To Enter:Real simple this time ;)Just leave me a comment answering this question "Do you think you get enough Vitamin D and Calcium in your daily diet?"

This is for your first entry, after that you can come back each day and just say "I really need more Vitamin D and Calcium!"

There is no need to leave your email in the comment field!If you have problems with the comment form or anything else, please email me at giveaways@crazywithpets.com

This giveaway will end on Saturday September 28th, @ 11:59pm CT.The winner will be choosen via random.org on the following day.I will contact the winner via email (make sure to add giveaways@crazywithpets.com to your safe list, so my email wont get lost in spam.)and post the winning name on this blog.The winner will have 48 hours to respond, or the prize will be forfeited and another winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to the Continental US, 18+ only.Please note: the free coupon is not valid within the following states: ID, LA, ND, NJ, NV and TN .

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

As some of you might remember, last month I received several items from Nailene to try out. This weekend I finally had a chance to try out the Nailene French Tip Kit. Though I'm just now finally getting a chance to tell you all about it lol.I have to honestly say, I am absolutely in love with the kit!! I know that last month I said I would try the black pen out first, but well what can I say, I chickened out I think lol. I tried the actual pen that comes with the kit. It was the very first time ever that I've actually given myself French tips, and I'm surprisingly satisfied with the outcome!Even Billy commented on how great my nails looked, and asked me how in the world I did that all by myself lol. Sharing a couple of pics of my fingers, the pictures didn't come out anywhere near as good as I hoped, they really don't do the kit justice. They look so nice in person. I would love to give myself a pat on the shoulder for this lol, but know I wouldn't have been able to do it without the kit. The kit came with 42 tip guides and believe me, they were a live saver for me. I would never have been able to make the straight line lol.Another thing I love about this kit is of course the fact that you use your own nails, no need for glue or fake tips or any of that messy stuff. I had actually just broken one of my nails, and was going to wait another couple of weeks before I painted them, but figured what the heck, lets try to pretend they're all somewhere around the same length lol. At this point now, I don't even think it is noticeable anymore, unless I point it out ;)I'm also really happy with the fact that they haven't chipped or anything like that yet!! As soon as I get brave enough to try out the black pen, I'll show ya'll some more pictures!Now don't forget gals, Nailene is still running their sweepstakes for $200 worth of nailene products and a $50 giftcard!And,I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

I've been having this one particular earworm for I think going on almost two weeks now! It seems that the jingle from the Klondike yes, Klondike bar commercial has bore itself into my head. It won't even consider letting go. All through out the day my brain keeps going back to "What would you do ..... for a Klondike bar". This is driving me insane lol, I've even started to wonder, if I just go the store and buy myself a Klondike bar, maybe it'll go away lol.Over the years I've had quite a few earworms, that probably just by mentioning them here in a minute will bore themselves right back into my head as well. It's amazing there's room for anything else in my head.Some of my all-time earworms include:

The "Baby Back Rib" jingle from Chili's

"Gimme a break, gimme a break" Kit-Kat candy-bar jingle

The song "We will, we will, rock you!"

and the theme song to Mission Impossible.

Most of the time for me it seems to just be some random commercial jingle that gets stuck with me. Every once in a while it's a regular song, or the theme song of some series that I watch or even watched years ago. Flipper comes to mind here lol.

I'm sure I can't be the only one out there with a song/ jingle in my head. What are some of the Jingles/songs/themes that bore themselves into your head? And most of all, what do you do to get rid of them!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

As some of you know, I am a huge soda lover. One soda in particular, Red Bull lol. Yes, I absolutely love the taste as well as the boost that it gives me. Which brings me to the fact, that I definitely spend way too much money on the one previous mentioned soda lol. We all know soda as well as seltzer water can get expensive, but when you're talking about energy drinks, that brings it to a whole new level lol.

Recently I was given the opportunity to test out a Sodastream Fountain Jet! When I first opened the package I have to say I was a little intimitated by the 110 Liter Carbonator.The picture doesn't really quite do it the justice it needs lol. It looks a lot bigger in person :)It only took me a couple of seconds though, to be completely comfortable as well as knowledgeable about the way it works. During the initial set-up all you have to do is remove the valve seal and cap from the Carbonator bottle and screw it tightly (but without tools!) into the back of the Fountain Jet. That's it! The unit is ready to go! No electricity or anything, I'm not sure why in the world I was so sure I would need to clear off counter space for the Fountain Jet, to get it close to one of my electrical outlets, but yeah, no need for that! This of course brings me to the fact of just how green the Fountain Jet is. By not using electricity you're already helping with reducing the carbon footprint! The fact of how many cans you'd keep from using as well as having to carry them home from the store, which is a big plus in my eyes lol.All you need now is your water, be that tap water or filtered water that you keep in the fridge, and some flavor!I was lucky enough to be able to try quite an array of the Sodastream flavors, they have over 25 regular, diet, energy and caffeine-free flavors.Each of their 500ml soda mixes makes the equivalent of 12 liters of soda!Also all of their regular soda mixes contain no high fructose syrup and their diet soda mixes are aspartame free!They also have natural MyWater flavor essences which are unsweetened and contain no calories.I would tell you now to go ahead and guess which flavor I tried first, but if you've been reading along than you probably already know what my first choice was lol. You guessed right, my first flavor trial was the Energy, which you can compare with Red Bull. (Well I would compare it to that, because that has been my energy drink choice for years) The first thing you would do, is add some water to the provided carbonating bottle, (I used chilled water from the fridge) screw it into the Fountain Jet, and push the button on the top until you hear the buzz. Once you're done with that, you remove the bottle add a cap-full of your desired flavor, screw the bottle shut tight and shake it up to distribute the flavor. I have to honestly say, I was pretty happy with the flavor! I do have to also say, there's a little tweaking of the flavor as well as the carbonation involved. I actually ended up using a little less of the flavor, but a little more on the carbonation, and that made it just perfect for me! Which thinking about that, I think that right there makes the Fountain Jet even better to me. This means you can prepare your soda to your liking! Maybe you want some carbonation but not as much as some of the store bought soda, or maybe you like way more lol, same when it comes to the strength of the flavors.

The sodastream website has several different starter kits that they offer up for sale. Starter Kits range from $99.95 to $199.95. As well as Value Packs, that range from $129.95 to $249.95.You'll be able to order these online at their website, and in some areas, you can buy the units as well as the soda mixes, carbonators and other accessories at stores in your area. Sodastream has a very convenient store locator on their site. I definitely think that the Sodastream Soda Makers will pay for themselves, if you calculate out, how much money you spend in a year on soda!

All in all, I think the Sodastream Fountain Jet is a winner in my eyes!My pros are:

You're using reusable carbonating bottles, which keeps you from buying soda cans or bottles, therefor keeping them from going to the landfill. Being Green :)

The Sodastream Soda Makers don't use electricity. More Green :)

There is a large amount of flavor choices available, and the flavors are definitely comparable to name brand sodas.

You don't have to lug countless numbers of sodas from the store to your house!

The Soda Makers are extremely easy to use.

It is absolutely portable, use it in your house, camp, garage, on your boat, while out camping or any other place you think you would like a fresh soda!

My cons are:

The only con that I can come up with is that the particular carbonating bottles that came with my soda fountain are not Dishwasher safe. (so yes, I would suggest to invest in a bottle cleaning brush, going to get me one soon lol)

Now for the fun part!The great people at Sodastream have decided to let me host a giveaway sponsored by them, for:

A fountain Jet Soda Lover's Start-Up Kit (ARV $ 100)!!!

This includes your choice of Black/Silver, Red/Silver or White Fountain Jet.

CO2 to make over 100 Liters of soda

2 reusable carbonating bottles

A sample pack of flavors

3 Full sized flavors of your choice!

TO ENTER:

Visit Sodastream and tell me which 3 flavors and which Fountain Jet color option you would choose if you were chosen as the winner. (This is mandatory, all extra entries will not be counted if you do not do this.)

To earn additional entries you can do one, some or all of the following.

Follow this blog. (it's on the right side bar. Make sure you leave the name your using to follow with.) (1 entry)

Follow me on twitter (leave your twitter id) (1 entry)

Tweet about this giveaway (leave the link to your tweet)Feel free to tweet this msg. "Win a Sodastream Soda Lover's Start Up Kit and make your own soda @prplrush http://bit.ly/r5PbC" (1 entry daily)

Add my button to your blog or website (leave a link) (2 entries)

Blog about this giveaway (leave a link) (2 entries)

Make sure to leave an extra comment for each extra entry.

This giveaway will end on Saturday September 19th, @ 11:59am CT.The winner will be choosen via random.org on the following day.I will contact the winner via email (make sure to add giveaways@crazywithpets.com to your safe list, so my email wont get lost in spam.)and post the winning name on this blog.The winner will have 48 hours to respond, or the prize will be forfeited and another winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to the Continental US and Canada. 18+ only.

Now most of all, just have fun!!!If you have any questions about this giveaway, please feel free to contact me via the contact email button on the right sidebar.